Underneath the Ice
by iNiGmA
Summary: When Voldemort disappeared life fell apart for 8 year old Merula Snyde. Her parents were sent to Azkaban, and she was sent to live with an aunt who couldn't care less about her. Now as she tries to navigate the unfriendly halls of Hogwarts, Merula has only one force driving her. The Cursed Vaults, and her desire to get inside. But can she face what is hiding beneath the ice?


_This short story was written for the Platform 9 ¾ short story contest in May 2018. The theme was Light in the Darkness._

 _I wanted to do something new and since I had just started playing Hogwarts Mystery, I decided to write a story about Merula. The new girl we love to hate? I hope you guys like it!_

 _This is of course obvious, but to be clear, I did not create any of the characters and everything Harry Potter related belongs to JK Rowling!_

* * *

 _ **Full Summary:**_ When Voldemort set out to kill Harry Potter and failed, life fell apart for eight year old Merula Snyde. Her parents were locked up in Azkaban, and she was sent off to live with an aunt who couldn't care less about her. Hogwarts did not become the second chance she might have hoped for. Now, as she tries to navigate the unfriendly halls of Hogwarts, Merula has only one force driving her: The Cursed Vaults, and her desire to get inside. But perhaps uncovering the secret to the vaults is nothing compared to facing what is hiding beneath the ice.

* * *

It was a rather overcast day when Merula Snyde boarded the Hogwarts Express for the very first time, leaving the tatters of her life behind her.

Her aunt had dropped her off at King's Cross with her trunk, a smirk, and a casual bit of advice: "Just walk at the wall, Merula," and then she had turned and walked off, her hair swaying with every step and flashing in the dim light as it managed to catch every bit of light that made it through the clouds.

Merula watched her go, and remarked to herself that she was probably hoping she'd never have to bother with her niece again. But there was nothing to be done for it, so Merula grabbed her trunk and dragged it toward the station, wondering where on earth she was to go, and wishing her own mum was here and not locked in a cell in Azkaban.

As she walked down the station she spotted a small blond boy with a tear streaked face being led along by people she could only assume were his parents – a kindly looking blonde woman who was holding his hand, and a tall blond man who was rolling along a trunk. It all looked very Hogwartsy to her, so she followed behind them as they approached the divider between Platforms 9 and 10.

"Now Ben," the woman said in a motherly voice, "Professor McGonagall said you simply walk through this wall here to get into the station. Do you want to go first?"

"N-No," he said, his voice shaking. "Mum, I've changed my mind. I don't want to go."

His father sighed. "Son, come on. Don't you want to learn magic? You've been reading all those fantasy books forever."

"That's right," his mother chimed in. "This is your dream come true, Ben. A wizard in the family! We're so proud of you. You'll have an amazing time at Hogwarts."

"You really think so?" The boy asked, looking up at them. His voice was fearful, but tinged with just a little bit of hope, and even fainter, a little bit of excitement.

"Of course!" They both said together.

"Besides," his father added, "you can always come home, Ben. We'll always be here waiting for you. Now go, son. Have an adventure!"

And with that, the muggle family walked towards the barrier and disappeared through it. Merula waited a few beats, and followed.

She dragged her trunk onto the train, nearly dropping it on her foot in the process, and settled in an empty compartment halfway down the car, from which she could just see the muggle family if she leaned her head against the window and looked down the platform. Their voices drifted in through the half cracked window, along with a cacophony of sound, and she could just make out Ben's mother above the din.

"Now make sure you eat all your meals, and work hard… Oh Ben, I can't believe you're really leaving."

The mother lifted her hand to her mouth, and Merula wondered if she was crying. Was she going to miss her son so terribly? Her own aunt couldn't care less that she was gone of course, Merula knew she was quite glad to finally be rid of her, but had her mother cried when they locked her up in Azkaban? Was she missing her daughter? Was she excited that Merula was finally starting Hogwarts? But she couldn't think about that. Not that.

She turned her attention back to the family as the platform began to empty of students. The father was loading Ben's trunk onto the train as the mother said, "…and we'll send you lots of letters, Ben. Professor McGonagall said she will designate an owl to us, and you can use the owls at the school. Maybe we can get you your own owl later if you like. As long as you do well in school of course, young man!"

The whistle blew to signal the train's imminent departure, and Ben and his parents jumped, then looked around sheepishly.

"Well come on then, son," the father said. "Off you go now."

The muggles loaded their son onto the train, and stood back, smiling and waving as the train picked up speed. Merula watched them as the train rounded the corner, and the platform disappeared from sight, her violet eyes slightly narrowed.

She turned away from the window as the city views began to blur into one another and picked up her bag. She started rummaging through it, her hand closing over the familiar shape of a worn book, when she heard the door to her compartment slide open, and raised her head to see the blond boy with the muggle parents standing there, his cheeks marked with tear tracks. He was holding a small bag filled with candy in one hand, and his robes were draped over the other.

"H-Hi," he stammered. "Can I sit with you? Everywhere else looks full. I'm Ben."

She stared at him, not saying a word. He gulped a little but took a cautious step into her compartment.

"Are you a first year student too? I can't believe we're going to a magic school! Did you know about magic before you got the letter?"

Merula continued to stare at him and his stained face, and his little bag of candy, with all his parents' expectations, hopes, and dreams on his little shoulders, and she felt a guttural rage rise up in her like nothing she had ever experienced before. She felt all her anger and bitterness and all those other emotions that she didn't even understand yet boil to the surface, and explode out of her in the only way an eleven year old knew how.

"Get out of here, you filthy Mudblood!" She roared angrily, the word she'd often heard her father use rolling off her tongue easily. "You don't belong at Hogwarts!"

She was on her feet before she knew it, her mother's wand in her hand.

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST GO ON AND RUN BACK TO YOUR PARENTS? YOU SNIVELLING MUGGLE!"

He took a step back, terrified, raising his hands to his face.

" _STUPEFY_!" She shouted, the spell coming easily to mind.

Her wand glowed red for a second and shuddered in her hand. She felt a force leave it and shoot off in Ben's direction. She had never used the spell before, and it didn't stun him, but the force pushed him back slightly toward the door, and as he was backing up already he hit his elbow on the door handle. He howled with a shriek she thought highly disproportionate to the damage she had inflicted, dropped his bag of candy, and ran out of her compartment, sobbing.

Merula stared after him, still holding her wand and wondering briefly what had come over her. She was just beginning to feel a slight amount of shame for scaring the boy, when multiple faces appeared at her compartment door, staring at her.

"She's t-the one!" The boy cried, and she saw that he was back, standing with a cluster of students further down the corridor "She hurt me!" An older boy put his arm around Ben's shoulders and led him away. The other students glared at her and started muttering as they turned away and retreated back to their compartments.

Before she knew it, she was alone. She could still hear the students through the walls, likely discussing her. She walked back amidst the scattered candy and grabbed her bag from where she had left it. She reached inside, and took out the notebook her mother had given her, just before she was taken. On the inside cover was a photo of Merula, around five years old, grinning with the arms of both parents around her, waving at the camera. She held it tightly to her chest for a moment, before letting her hands fall.

She may not have a loving family who would see her off at the station, and she may have lost any chance she had of making friends at Hogwarts, but one thing she knew she had in abundance was pride. If those stupid idiots wanted to judge her for what had happened, and whisper behind her back, then she sure didn't need them. If they thought she was a bully, then that's what she would be. She was Merula Snyde. She didn't need anyone.

She picked up one of Ben's candies from the floor and ate it. Forget those idiots. She knew exactly what kind of person she was. And what kind of person she would have to be.

oOoOo

It had taken Merula a little while to settle in at Hogwarts. After her dueling display on the train, word of her attack on Ben had spread quickly, and she often found herself alone, avoiding stares from the other students everywhere she went. Even Slytherins often gave her a wide birth. When she was sorted into the great and honorable house of her parents, her reception had been less than lukewarm, with scattered applause and a fresh round of muttering. It appeared to her that the sorting had seemed to solidify, in the minds of many, her "despicable" nature. And Slytherins who wanted nothing more than to build up the reputation of their house after the war had taken her actions as a personal insult.

Merula, who did not appreciate being ostracized, took it upon herself to snap and curse at anyone who came near. The easiest target, of course, was Ben, who followed her around indiscriminately! It was completely mind boggling, but every time she turned around, that pathetic sniveling Gryffindor (She could not believe that. Gryffindor?!) was always several steps behind her, darting behind a statue or suit of armor to avoid her gaze. She had thrown every hex she knew at him, had yelled at him constantly, and still he persisted. At flying class, she had covered his broomstick handle with so much polish when his back was turned that he had slid off and fell on his face when he tried to mount it. But none of her efforts seemed to serve as a deterrent.

On top of that, Ben had obtained two friends, who if possible, were even more irritating. The first of which aggravated Merula to such a degree, that she could not even deign to use her name, and referred to the girl simply as "the Character." She was obsessed with her brother, Jacob, who had been thrown out of Hogwarts previously for being a complete nutcase. She seemed to constantly change everything, from her Hogwarts house to her hairstyle. In fact, Merula wasn't even entirely sure that she was, in fact, a girl. And her friend Rowan was, if possible, even worse. Just the other day, Merula had been sure she had seen her stroll across the Slytherin common room, carrying her bloody textbooks, as if she belonged there.

Merula had taken the first opportunity she could to lock them both up in a closet with some Devil's Snare that she had snuck out of the greenhouses, but unfortunately they had managed to escape.

Time she wasn't spending preventatively bullying the other students, Merula spent in a dark corner of her dungeon common room, flipping through her mother's notebook, and trying to make some sense of the scribbles on the pages. Part of the writing was blurred, and in those sections, the pages of the notebook had turned cold: almost as if they were covered with a very thin sheet of ice. If it was indeed ice, it did not melt. She slid her hands over the pages, feeling the cold seep into her fingers. She couldn't make sense of it.

In the scribbles that were not obscured, she could just make out seemingly random fragments of thought, like ' _the fire in the vault'_ , and ' _Jacob' or ' For… Merula_.'

She could understand little to nothing from the book, other than it had been important to her mother. And from the parts that did make sense, she could only assume that it had something to do with The Cursed Vaults, and that stupid Jacob who had been expelled, and by extension….the Character… his moronic, clumsy, goody-two-shoes sister. And the fact that she was connected in any distant way to that idiot set Merula's blood boiling. But despite this, pursuing the book amounted almost to an obsession, and she found herself retuning to the book day after day.

After one such fruitless session, she closed the book in frustration and shoved it in her bag. Perhaps she could do with a little sunshine. Merula headed off to the courtyard.

As she walked up the stone steps from the dungeons and made her way across the entry hall, she heard the soft _tap-tap_ of footsteps start up in a steady rhythm behind her. She gritted her teeth and strode straight ahead, pointedly ignoring it. It followed her all the way to the courtyard. She sat down in a corner, her fingers unconsciously reaching for the notebook again, as the other students literally melted away from her. They drifted into tighter groups and turned away, shooting glances at her occasionally.

She wondered if the giant squid would fancy an early lunch. Some of those stragglers were standing awfully close to the lake after all.

Just then she felt the presence of eyes on her. She lifted her own, and found that she was looking right at Ben Copper, who was staring at her intently, partially hidden behind a bush. He backed away hurriedly when she locked eyes with him.

' _That's it!'_ She thought, and jumped to her feet while whipping out her wand.

"You're an embarrassment to everyone in our year!" She growled. "Disgusting Mudbloods like you shouldn't even be allowed in Hogwarts! _Expelliarmus_!"

She shouted the spell angrily, pointing her wand at him. If that little freak did not stop following her around, she was going to really lose it. And soon.

He cried out as he was blasted off his feet. Merula advanced on him, wand out. Students drew back, gasping and forming a lose circle around them.

"Stop following me, you sniveling little coward! _Rictusempra_!"

He doubled over, crying and laughing at the same time from her tickling hex.

"What do you want from me!" she hissed. "Go back to your mummy and daddy. You still got some, haven't you?"

She raised her wand again, aiming to stop the jinx when she heard hurried footsteps and shouts.

"Merula! What do you think you're doing?!"

She recognized that voice. She ground her teeth in frustration. Just what she needed, for those idiots to get involved.

"Leave Ben alone!" the Character shouted. "What's he ever done to you?"

"Don't get involved in this," Merula told her. "Or I'll duel you next."

The girl drew herself up, wand at the ready.

"Just stop it," she said haughtily. "I'm sure your parents will eventually be released from Azkaban. Just because they chose evil, doesn't mean you have to be evil too."

"How dare you mention my family!" Merula hissed. "Why don't you make like your mad brother, and go missing!"

"You're the one everyone wishes would just go away. I'm not afraid of you, Merula. Bring it!"

" _Filipendo_!" Merula cried, pointing her wand at the irritating girl. It knocked her over backwards. She rolled to her side and shouted " _Rictusempra_!"

Merula bent over, trying not to laugh and completely ruin her image.

" _Filipendo_!" She ground out again through gritted teeth, and it hit her enemy right as she was making her way back to her feet and knocked her flat on her back. She lay there, stunned.

"Serves you right." Merula said, walking towards her. "Just like your stupid brother, you can't do it when it counts, huh?"

Just then the girl opened her eyes, fixed Merula with a determined glare, and threw a vial of potion at her face.

"Argh!" Merula cried, clawing at her eyes. She staggered backwards, stunned. Her movements were not responding as fast as they should be. "What is this?!"

" _Expelliarmus_!" the girl cried, and Merula felt her wand fly out of her hand. She tripped and fell down, the potion still limiting her movements. The girl stood over her, her wand steady in her hand.

"Don't. _Ever_. Curse. My. Friends. Again." She said, stressing every word. "Now apologize to Ben."

"Bite me!" Merula growled. "I'll never apologize to you losers and Mudbloods."

She fought her way to her feet and turned around to stalk towards the castle, and almost walked headlong into Professor Snape.

"Professor!" She cried, jumping back.

Snape fixed them both with an unreadable stare. "There is no dueling allowed on school grounds. You will both see me in the West Towers tonight."

"Yes, Professor," Merula spat out angrily. She grabbed her bag and stalked out of the courtyard, knocking students out of her way. So much for Snape favoring the Slytherins. Whatever the punishment was going to be, maybe she could just lock Jacob's stupid sister in there and be on her way.

oOoOo

Merula made her way to the West Towers, scuffing her feet on the way to let out her frustration. It seemed that everyone in Hogwarts had her at the top of their most-hated lists. Even Snape was giving her a hard time. She almost couldn't blame them. There were plenty of things that she had done that she regretted… but it was too late. She couldn't be anything else now. They would never accept her. Perhaps if her parents hadn't been locked up the way they had, things would have been different.

She reached the landing and saw that she was alone. She leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes for a second, wondering when everything had gone so terribly wrong. She knew that she shouldn't have attacked Ben in the courtyard, or on the train for that matter. But it was one thing to know this, and something else entirely to change it. She just couldn't stop herself from reacting this way. She wondered if she was broken inside. Was she truly rotten to the core? She had only attacked Ben because he was following her. Surely anyone would have reacted the same. She scrunched up her eyes, before they started doing something incredibly embarrassing, like letting the tears that had welled up leak out. She wasn't some weakling, like Ben Copper. She was Merula Snyde, a proud Slytherin. And Slytherins didn't cry because of silly things like their parents being in Azkaban, or the whole school hating them. Slytherins didn't-

"Feeling remorseful, Miss Snyde?"

Merula jumped and her eyes shot open. Snape was standing there, giving her a look she couldn't quite explain.

"Just expressing my unbelievable frustration, that someone can't be here in a timely manner, Professor."

"Ah, yes," he said, his voice expressionless. "But perhaps one should recognize and address one's own faults before finding them in others. Wouldn't you agree, Miss Snyde?"

"Yes, Professor," she muttered, moving her eyes away from his penetrating gaze and staring down at the floor.

Just then she heard footsteps approaching. She looked up and saw the frustratingly annoying girl coming up the stairs. She tripped slightly on the top step, grabbed the banister to regain her balance, and looked around as she finally scaled the landing, her face a little ashamed. She said nothing.

"Now that everyone is finally here," Snape said in a dry tone, "I can discuss your punishment. Expulsion seems to be the most logical option."

"B-but Professor!" The girl cried.

"I didn't do anything, it was her fault!" Merula growled.

Snape ignored them both. "Unfortunately," he drawled, "our Headmaster believes that expulsion is unfair…. this time. Rest assured, if I catch you dueling again, you _will_ both be expelled. In the meantime, detentions will have to do."

He gave them both a calculating stare and turned around abruptly to speak to Filch, who had appeared behind him out of nowhere so conveniently, it was almost as if Snape had _Accio-ed_ him over.

"What is it, Mr. Filch?" Snape drawled.

"Professor Snape, you must come with me right away. It's about the… vaults."

"I see," Snape said. "Return to your common rooms. I will send you details of your detentions later," he added before following Filch down the corridor.

"They must be talking about the Cursed Vaults!" Merula said, excitement creeping into her voice. She thought back to her mother's notebook. It _had_ to be related! Making a snap decision, she turned and followed Snape and Filch down the corridor. The footsteps behind her indicated that the stupid girl was right on her heels.

"Get out of here!" Merula snapped at her quietly, as she observed Snape and Filch from behind a suit of armor. The girl ignored her.

"Who is Snape talking to?"

"That's Filch, you complete idiot."

"Are they talking about the Cursed Vaults?"

"I don't know," Merula said, exasperated, "because you won't shut up!"

She watched Snape and Filch secure a door before heading away. She waited until they turned a corner, then darted out from behind the statue and made her way to the door, the girl right behind her.

"I wonder if the Vaults are inside," she said.

Merula ignored her and put her palm against the door. She drew it away suddenly.

"It's cold," she said, surprised. Touching the door had been like laying a hand on a sheet of ice. She could feel a thin coating of ice around her hand for a second, before it melted away. She examined the doorknob.

"Move over!" The girl said excitedly as she drew out her wand and pointed it at the door. "If I can get in there, maybe I will find out something about Jacob! _Alohomora_!"

"Out of my way!" Merula cried in response and shoved the girl aside. She wrapped her hand in her robe and pulled at the door. Slowly, it started to creak open. And suddenly out of the crack, a freezing wind blew, bringing snow and ice with it. She could feel it coating her robes, which began to freeze and weigh her down.

"Close it, close it!" She gasped, as she pushed her full weight against the door. The girl leaned against it too, and slowly they were able to push the door shut. Merula slid down to the floor, gasping and shaking. The ice began to melt from her robes, leaving them drenched. The girl stared at her with wide eyes.

"What was that?" she gasped.

"The Cursed Vaults, I imagine," Merula pulled herself to her feet. She glared at the girl for a second, and then started away toward the Slytherin Common Room, her robes dripping on the floor behind her. She was going to need a better plan if she was going to get into that blizzard of a room.

oOoOo

Her potion bubbled and frothed and Merula sat there, staring into the distance, her eyes unfocused. Last night, after she had changed out of her freezing robes, she had pursued her mother's notebook again. She had flipped through the pages, looking for any hints within the icy words, and nothing had popped out at her. No whisper of a secret entrance. No code within the ice.

She had slammed the notebook shut, glowered at it, and then opened it again and looked at the family photo behind the cover. Her smile was so bright it almost brought tears to her eyes. Here she was, waving at the camera without a care in the world, no clue that only a few short years later her life would be torn asunder. And here were her parents, holding her tight, smiling at her and each other. Had they really been Death Eaters under that mask? Her mother had always taught her to do the right thing. To be kind. To share. Merula had long let go of these lessons. Her parents were sitting in a cell at Azkaban after all, found guilty of murder, and helping Voldemort rise to power, and all sorts of crimes – anything that would stick. What kind of things could they teach her that were worth remembering? Had they even believed in them to begin with? And now that she looked at it, the stupid picture was peeling in the corner. The stupid thing couldn't even stick right.

Merula ran her fingers over it absentmindedly to straighten it out, and paused, her fingers halfway across the photo. There was something there. She could just feel the tip of something, right underneath the edge of her small face, beneath the photo. Carefully, she pulled the photo away from the page. Behind it, was…. well, she couldn't quite think of a name for it. Saying it was a key might be the most accurate, but it was unlike any key she had ever seen. It was so thin that it barely had any depth at all. The shape was similar to an infinity sign, and in the middle there was something that looked jagged, like an intricate array of icicles, all intertwined.

She picked it up carefully and held it between her thumb and forefinger. It was freezing cold, as if it were made of ice. It felt so brittle, she was afraid she might break it. Now this, this was the definition of a clue. But what an earth did it mean?

"Miss Snyde, your potion does not appear to be exhibiting the colorless vapor that would be appropriate at this stage. Perhaps if you stopped daydreaming in my class, you would not be so far behind. Five points from Slytherin."

Merula jumped.

"Sorry Professor Snape," she forced out, grabbing her silver dagger and turning to her next ingredient. Snape watched her for several moments, then walked away toward a lost looking Gryffindor.

"That is not the proper way to chop up the root, Stevens. Twenty points from Gryffindor."

At least she was still in Snape's good graces. Tolerable graces at any rate. Thank Salazar Slytherin for that. She chopped up her root and threw it into her potion, then stirred it ten times clockwise. When she looked away from her cauldron again, she saw the bloody girl standing next to her table, grabbing something from the student cupboard.

"Hey, you," she hissed. "Did you tell anyone about what we found in the corridor last night."

"Err," the girl said, turning around, "well yeah, I told Rowan."

"For Slytherin's Sake, you're so dumb," Merula said, exasperated. "Why would you do that? Tell the whole bloody school, why don't you?" The girl frowned at her.

"Why are you so mean, Merula? Rowan is my friend. I trust her. Besides, why do you care about the vaults anyway? What do they have to do with you?"

"None of your bloody business!" Merula snapped, and turned back to her potion. The girl stared at her for a few more seconds before turning to walk away.

"Your potion," she said, as she walked past, "stir it two more times, counterclockwise. Or it's going to explode. Personal experience."

Merula growled at her, waited until she was on the other sound of the room, and then stirred her potion. The vapor turned colorless.

oOoOo

It was the dead of night when Merula snuck towards the corridor. Inside, she hoped, were the Cursed Vaults. And those silly girls were going to get her in there. She had overheard them talking about their plan in the courtyard, and she had her own plan ready to go. She was a resourceful Slytherin after all, and not taking advantage of this opportunity would be completely against her nature.

She spotted them as they were making their way through the door: the annoying girl who would remain unnamed, her annoying friend Rowan, and that complete cowardly idiot Ben Copper. She could not believe they had brought him. Oh, this was going to be good.

She waited until they were inside, and it looked like they had manage to abate the blizzard contained within, before she rushed in, shoving the door open with her shoulder.

" _Filipendo_!" She cried, pointing her wand at them. All three of them were knocked over backwards into a pile of snow, caught off-guard. "Out of my way, morons! No one is going to find the Cursed Vaults before me!"

She left them in the snow by the entrance and raced further into the corridor _. 'I need to know,'_ she thought to herself, as she pushed her way past the snowy obstacles. _'I need to know what my parents were doing in here. I need to know what this means.'_

Ice sprang up suddenly from the floor and surrounded her, forcing her to halt mid-step. She felt the cold stab into her. She cursed loudly.

"Merula! What happened?"

She turned her head as much as she could and watched them approach her, wands raised.

"Are you OK?" The girl asked. "Ben, Rowan, we'll have to get her out."

She stared at them as ice continued to grow around them all, obscuring the walls and their exit. She had not done much to detain them, it was true, and here they were, following her. But she had hurt them, again and again, and yet here they were, coming to her rescue. Those idiots. Why did they keep showing up when she didn't want them?

But it was so cold in the ice. So cold.

"C-can you get me out?" She asked, hating the pleading in her voice. Her teeth chattered. "P-please."

"I'll try the Knockback Jinx," the girl said. She pointed her want at Merula. " _Filipendo_!"

The ice broke away a little, and Merula's arm came free.

" _Filipendo_!" The girl cried again, pointing the wand at the chunks of ice around Merula. " _Filipendo_!"

She finally succeeded in freeing Merula, while Ben and Rowan walked around, examining the room.

"Thanks," Merula said grudgingly, brushing the remnants of ice off her robes. She was freezing.

"Don't thank us yet," Rowan said. "We're trapped in here. It's totally your fault, Merula."

"My fault? You all clearly were not prepared enough!"

" _WE_ weren't?!" Rowan cried, "Are you kidding me?"

"Stop it!" Ben cried. "We have to get out of here, before we all freeze."

"Ben, do you think we can filipendo our way out?" The girl asked. She pointed her wand at the ice blocking the way to the door, and tried the spell. Barely any ice fell away.

"Great, we're trapped," Merula grumbled.

"So what," Rowan said in a biting tone, "You just waltzed in here with no plan of getting out?"

"Of course I had a plan," Merula said haughtily.

"Oh yea? Whatever was it?"

" _Filipendo_!" The girl cried again, ignoring them and pointing at the door. A little more ice fell away.

"I don't have to tell _you_ anything, Khanna!"

"It's hopeless…" Ben mumbled. "I knew this was a bad idea!"

"Why don't you try it, Ben?" The girl asked, breathing heavily as she lowered her wand. "You're so good at Charms, Ben! And I can't keep doing this… I'm completely out of energy."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I'm too afraid."

"Worthless Mudblood…" Merula growled, earning glares from everyone around her.

"Just try it, Ben!" Rowan said, ignoring her. "We know you can do it."

"Yes, don't listen to her, Ben," the girl added. "Please you have to try. For your friends…"

"OK, I'll try…" Ben said, as he walked toward the door. He raised his wand, his arm shaking badly, and pointed it at the ice. " _Filipendo_!"

The ice shattered with the intensity of a small explosion. Everyone stared at the door, dumbfounded. Then Merula uttered what may have been the nicest thing she'd said all year.

"Well. I guess you aren't completely useless."

They ran for the door and pulled it open. The girl and her gang spilled out into the hallway beyond it. Merula was about to follow them, then paused, remembering the key in the notebook. She had not gotten her answers. She couldn't go yet.

"See you losers!" She called, and slammed the door shut behind them. It snapped into place, blocking out all the light from the hallway. The corridor turned almost pitch black. The only light was the low blue glow the ice was emitting where it had fallen in patches on the floor. She knew she didn't have much time before it started to grow back. She would have to go carefully now and figure this out. For the first time, she was all alone. Her future unwritten.

Her hand shook a little as she raised her wand and whispered, " _Lumos_."

She made her way down the corridor, avoiding the ice that glowed in the faint light, tame for the time being. It was a dead end. She didn't understand. It had to lead somewhere! This was where the vaults were… wasn't it?

She paced back and forth at the end of the corridor, trying to keep warm.

' _I need to get into the vaults,_ ' she thought. _'I need to get into the vaults. I need to know what was in my mother's notebook. I need to find the truth.'_

Suddenly she heard a snap, like a lot of magical energy unleashing, and felt the force of it blow past her and push her back. A door had appeared in the previously bare wall before her. It was made of ice.

"The vaults…" she breathed.

Suddenly she heard a clatter behind her. She whipped her head back, wand pointed, and saw the girl quickly scrambling up from the floor, brushing ice of her robes and staring at the door in wonder.

"Where did that come from?" She gasped.

"Never mind that!" Merula snapped. "What are you doing here, you clumsy moron? Get out!"

"Merula, don't be ridiculous, you can't come in here by yourself. You'll freeze to death. Come on, let's go back."

"I can't go," She said. "I have to get inside the vaults."

"But why?" The girl asked. "Merula, come on, tell me."

"It's none of your business. I don't have time for this! The ice is going to grow back." She studied the door. The girl stepped closer.

"You know what I want in there," she breathed. "Answers about Jacob. What do you want? It must be something."

"He's not even your real brother, is he?" Merula shot at her, stalling. "Isn't Jacob really your cousin?"

"He's my brother," she said quietly. "He might as well be. And I have to find him."

Merula glanced at her. Ice was spreading up the girl's robes from where she had knocked it over earlier. As she looked around the dark corridor, she saw that the ice around them was coming to life again. They were running out of time. She considered. The girl had saved her earlier after all. Perhaps trusting someone… was not the worst possible thing she could do. They both had something on the line after all. She didn't imagine that this girl and her could ever be friends, but she was so tired of carrying her burden alone.

"My mother left me a notebook that talks about the Cursed Vaults," she said. "It seems important. I need to know what's inside."

The girl stepped back, gripping her wand a little tighter.

"It could be dangerous. Your parents were-"

"I know!" Merula cut her off. "I know they were Death Eaters. They were found guilty at trial. I have no delusions. You idiot. But I need to know… what's inside."

The girl looked at Merula, as if she were sizing her up. Then she nodded, and gripped her wand tightly.

"Open it then."

Merula put her hand on the door and pulled it open. Nothing could have prepared her for what was inside.

It was a giant room, as tall as a cathedral. Everything was covered in ice. The floor. The walls. The ceiling. There were tall rows of ice throughout the room as well, with sharp jagged edges. The ice emitted its ethereal blue light, and the room was bathed in it. In the center of the room, there was a large rectangular structure, also made of ice, and within it burned a fire. They approached it carefully, marveling at how the fire could burn within the ice, without melting it, without the ice turning to water and dousing the flames. The flames cast a gentle orange glow that melted into the blue light around it.

The area surrounding the trapped fire was covered in spikes of ice, which formed a protective cage around it. As they approached, the ice came to life and began to move, shooting towards them to form an active perimeter around the fire, forcing them to stop in their tracks about twenty feet away. As the ice continued to shift, something came into view: a shape, surrounded by ice… Merula squinted and thought she saw a hand. She gasped, and at the same time she heard a scream behind her.

"JACOB! OH NO, JACOB!"

"NO!" Merula cried, as the girl darted past her toward the center of the ice. The icy spears shot at her, and the girl raised her hands in front of her face for protection as she ran. Some of the spears broke against her, but a couple pierced her robes and she screamed, falling to her knees.

" _Filipendo_!" Merula cried, aiming her wand at the spears. " _Incendio_!"

The icy spears drew back slightly, the spells just managing to hold them at bay. Merula ran out toward the girl.

"Get up!" She cried, dragging her to her feet. "Hurry!"

She dragged them back out of range of the spears, which had begun to regroup. The girl collapsed on the floor, blood trickling down her robes.

"Jacob," she moaned. "I have to free him."

"If he's in there, he's probably dead," Merula said, heartlessly. "Look what just happened! You can't just-"

"Shut-up!" The girl cried, tightly squeezing her bleeding arm. "He is NOT dead! He's my brother, I have to get him out! How could you say that?!"

"I'm just being realistic," Merula replied, stepping back from the shaking girl and looking around the room again. "Calm down! If you rush in like that, the ice will just get you too."

She circled the ice, trying to get a better look at Jacob. He was wrapped in ice, unmoving. She couldn't imagine how he could still be alive.

"Merula, we have to do something!"

The girl had gotten back to her feet, panting and shivering, still holding her arm. Merula could see blood trailing down her sleeve, while a thin patch of ice clawed its way up her robes. It was spreading.

They were running out of time.

" _Filipendo_!" The girl tried again, pointing her wand weakly at the ice. The ice moved aside slightly, letting her spell through harmlessly, before closing in again to block their path. It happened almost instantaneously. "Merula, try your fire spell."

"It didn't do much before." Merula said, shaking her head. They needed a better plan. She almost growled in frustration. Everything was going wrong. The room was freezing cold, and she could do little to stop herself from shaking. If she didn't do something soon, they would all die here. She spun around, desperately looking for an answer.

Something in the right corner of the room caught her eye. She made her way over to it, while the girl tried the Knockback Jinx again. She was determined, if not clever. Merula would give her that.

In the corner was a large ice structure. It curved away at a gentle angle toward the ceiling, and then sloped back down, curving again towards the floor. She reached into her pocket and took out the notebook. She couldn't be sure but, yes… it looked like a giant version of her key. She took it out of the notebook carefully and held it up to the giant ice sculpture. There had to be a connection.

She stepped closer, tracing her hand across it. The coldness of the ice stabbed at her, cutting across the numbness from the cold she already felt, but she did not remove her hand, bringing it closer to the center of the statue, where the two loops connected. As she continued to trace the ice to the center, she felt a series of notches. And in the very middle was a groove. She let out a sharp gasp. She could not see it, but she could somehow feel it with her fingertips, even though they were completely numb from the cold. She was positive that there was an indentation cut into the center of the ice that felt very similar to her key. With a desperate effort of will, she grabbed her infinity key and plunged it into the groove. It fit perfectly.

There was a blinding flash of light, and the fire inside the rectangle of ice roared to life. It exploded outward, the ice shattering. Within seconds, she felt the heat of the flames wash over her. She welcomed the fire. _'Even if it burns me,_ ' she thought deliriously, _'at least it is so warm.'_

It roared around her, obscuring everything. All she could see was orange. She shut her eyes as she felt it graze her face, and she could see the orange burning brightly through her eyelids. She screamed, her voice getting lost in the roar of the fire. It was everywhere. She wondered if this was the end. Would her own mistake be their downfall?

Suddenly, it was over. She felt the heat recede, leaving only a warm tinge on her cheeks. The darkness behind her eyelids was absolute. She opened her eyes, letting them adjust to the light. The fire was still burning, in several seemingly contained places around the room, as well as in a large torch in the center, where the rectangle of ice had been. The ice was gone. The rows that had been mountains of ice now appeared to be mountains of junk: bookshelves, drawers, and cabinets, with items piled sky-high around them. Merula gaped around the room as she walked back toward the fire in the torch.

The girl was on her knees, crawling towards Jacob. She reached him first, and shook his shoulders weakly.

"Jacob," she moaned. "Jacob! Wake up!"

He didn't move. The girl started crying as she kept calling his name. Shaking him. She lay her head on his chest, trying to find a heartbeat. Merula turned away. She had not come here for this and she did not think she could stomach it. She knew grief. It had shaped the course of her life, and she did not want to watch it happen to someone else. She stared out over the burning fires around the room, and the piles of junk, not really seeing them. Her eyes were turned inward: to her parents, as they were taken away, and to the anguish with which she had grown up since.

Suddenly she heard a grunt behind her. She spun around. Against all odds, he had opened his eyes. They were a startling blue.

"Jacob!" the girl cried, her voice breaking.

"Hey Peanut," he mumbled. "What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you, stupid!" She sobbed. "What happened to you?"

"I'm not sure," he said, starting to sit up. The girl pushed him back down, leaving bloody handprints on his shoulders. Merula came closer and crouched besides them.

"You look so grown-up, Peanut," he mumbled. "The ice came out of nowhere, it's the last thing I remember. I tried to stop it but…" He paused, looking toward Merula. "Hang on… are you Merula? Dayna and Alfred's daughter?"

"Yes," she said, perturbed. "Do you… know my parents?"

"Know them?" He whispered, " Of course I know them. They sent me here, you know."

Merula felt a cold sadness seep into her, despite the warmth that the fire had imprinted on her skin.

"They trapped you here?" She said dully.

"Trapped me?" He was surprised. His voice grew a little stronger. "No, of course not. We were working together, trying to stop You-Know-Who. Didn't you know?"

Merula dropped to the floor, shock sapping her strength. "W-what?"

"I had a vision," he told them as he struggled to a sitting position. "About this place, and your parents. I knew that I could trust them. I found them, and we made a plan to come here. You-Know-Who has hidden something here, something important. We need to destroy it, so that we can kill him. The ice must be protecting it. He set up the Cursed Vaults to hide it. He- The ice! It's… gone?" He looked around the room wildly. "We have to find it!"

"It's OK! You-Know-Who is gone," the girl told him, calming him. "He's dead. Defeated by baby Harry Potter when he tried to kill him. It was three years ago, Jacob."

"Three years ago?" He gasped. "I was in here so long?" He put his face in his hands, while the girls looked at each other. "How could that be? Merula, where are your parents? Why haven't they come?"

"They're… in Azkaban," she said, slowly. Jacob looked aghast. "Are you telling me… are you saying, that- that they're innocent?"

The silence was deafening. Finally Jacob spoke.

"We'll get them out. Don't worry, Merula. Your parents were the finest people that I ever met. We were working together to take down You-Know-Who from the inside. I promise you, it's true. Please, believe me. We'll get them out."

"OK," she whispered. She didn't know what else to say. "OK."

She couldn't believe it. It was too much. She had found the Cursed Vaults. She had found the secret. Her parents were innocent. Innocent. Could it really be true? She turned away, her hands shaking.

"Peanut," she heard Jacob say, "You're bleeding. What happened?"

"It was the ice, Jacob. I tried to run to you, and it attacked me."

"Does it hurt? Let me see…"

Merula lost track of their conversation as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the notebook. Her shaking hands almost dropped it as she flipped it open. The ice that that had obscured her mother's words was gone. She could read it now, the handwriting clear as day.

 _My dearest Merula,_

 _There is so much to tell you, and so little time. I fear I must be brief, for at any moment we will be taken. You are so young now, but I hope someday you will understand. We have decided to renounce He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and we have been working with Jacob against him. Two days after Jacob left to find the Cursed Vaults and the treasure He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has hid inside, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was defeated by little Harry Potter. He is gone, so it appears that Jacob was successful. We can only assume that he was able to unleash the fire in the vault, as he saw in his vision, destroy the cursed ice, and break He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's hold on life. But we have not been able to reach him._

 _The Aurors are rounding us all up now, and without Jacob we have no proof as to our innocence. I am afraid that we will likely spend our lives in Azkaban paying for the sins we did commit, as well as the ones we didn't. But I want you to know, my dearest daughter, that even though our beginnings were less than honorable, we stood up and we did the right thing in the end. We could not continue to stand by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named after we saw the pain he had caused, the families he had torn asunder, and the hundreds of innocents that he was willing to murder to realize his goals._

 _Merula, being a pureblood means nothing, without kindness and acceptance in your heart. We have learned it the hard way, and we pray that you don't have to. Ever since you came into our lives, we knew that the world in which we wanted to raise you had to be better. Kinder. We have found the light in the darkness, and it is you. Our hope is that your path will always, always be in the light._

 _We leave you this letter, and the key that Jacob left us, in the hope that when you are older, you can understand, and forgive us. We are so sorry that we may soon have to leave you. Everything we did, we did for you, Merula. So that you can have a better life. We love you._

 _Mum & Dad_

The tears fell freely down her face as the notebook dropped to the floor. She gazed up at the ceiling, where the fire had coalesced into a glowing ring, casting soft flickering shadows onto everything.

"Mum," she whispered, "Dad."

It was as if a dam had broken inside her, and she felt all the pain she had locked away long ago come to the surface, bubbling within her. Her very heart was bleeding. She felt her anger at losing her parents, her anger at them for all they had done, and her anger at the unfairness of the world all come together, and she knew in that moment that she could take it, and turn it into joy. She had found her own light. She smiled through her tears and turned around.

"Let's get out of here," she said, extending a hand to the girl.

The girl smiled and took it.

"Thanks, Merula," she said, as she let Merula pull her to her feet. Together, they helped Jacob off the floor, and together they stumbled toward the doorway to the corridor, holding each other up.

There are some things you can't experience together, without becoming friends, and destroying a room full of cursed ice is definitely one of them. So Merula turned to the girl and mumbled sheepishly, "Thanks for everything, Nymphadora."

And Nymphadora rolled her eyes and said, "I hate that bloody name. Call me Tonks."

And together, they left the darkness of the Cursed Vaults behind them.

* * *

 _This story presented an interesting set of challenges. As I was playing the game, I found that I could not stand Merula, and I assume she is meant to represent the Draco of Mystery time. I could never get to a point where I could really enjoy Draco or get past thinking he was an ass, so with Merula I wanted to write a story from her perspective to see if I could humanize her. I hope I have succeeded. What do you guys think?_

 _I had originally intended to make this a comedy, or perhaps a dark comedy, but somehow it turned out to just be mostly drama and adventure. Which is just fine with me, this is what the story wanted to be! I had to curtail it a bit as there was an 8,000 word limit for the contest and I was quickly going over it (oops!), but in the end I think the edits only helped to streamline the story. I did extend it very slightly for this version, but nothing really significant. This may not be how mystery ends, but I do hope our character finds Jacob somewhere eventually. And that Merula turns into someone we can hate on just a little less!_

 _Please review if you can, I'd love to hear some feedback!_

 _Thanks all,_

 _Rina_


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